January

My little blog has been silent these last three weeks. Plenty has been happening, but for some reason, I feel quiet. Perhaps it is because I am suddenly faced with my mother's sharp decline over the last few
 weeks, and my mind is awash with questions about what to do for her. Assisted living? Memory care? Here or there? Move her without telling her about it first, without getting her input? These are uncharted waters, and the going is rough. In some ways, even though she is in great physical shape, I feel as if I have already lost my mother. However, after touring lots of assisted living and memory care facilities, and having lots of conversations (and dreams!) about the whole situation, I think we have found a good solution for her. The hardest part will be just waltzing in and telling her we are moving her. I am dreading this. I do know that once she is closer to us and settled in, we will all breath easier knowing we can keep a closer eye on her. I look forward to being able to see her more often, and hope she will retain a certain amount of lucidity for a while yet. January has been a lovely month, with barn dances and epiphany parties and birthday parties and big bowls of hot soup to warm us after playing in the powdered sugar dusting of snow we received. Homemade ricotta cheese is draining right now, and we will eat it slathered on top of hot bread with dinner tonight. My intent is to be a bit better about keeping up my blog. On the other hand, sometimes silence is golden!